Poetry
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Short Poems
Best Loved Short Poems

Short Poems

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
nothing gold2.jpg

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

_

Moods by Sara Teasdale

I am the still rain falling,

Too tired for singing mirth --

Oh, be the green fields calling,

Oh, be for me the earth!

I am the brown bird pining

To leave the nest and fly --

Oh, be the fresh cloud shining,

Oh, be for me the sky!
_
The Eclipse by Richard Eberhart

I stood out in the open cold

To see the essence of the eclipse

Which was its perfect darkness.

I stood in the cold on the porch

And could not think of anything so perfect

As mans hope of light in the face of darkness.

_
ROSES by George Eliot 1819-1880

You love the roses - so do I. I wish

They sky would rain down roses, as they rain

From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?

Then all the valley would be pink and white

And soft to tread on. They would fall as light

As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

_
The Great Way by Wu Men

The Great Way has no gate;

there are a thousand paths to it.

If you pass through the barrier,

you walk the universe alone.
_
The Crystal Gazer by Sara Teasdale

I shall gather myself into myself again,

I shall take my scattered selves and make them one.

I shall fuse them into a polished crystal ball

Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.

I Shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent.

Watching the future come and the present go -

And the little shifting pictures of people rushing

In tiny self-importance to and fro.

_
AT THE END by Ed Meeks

He was so old his bones seemed to swim in his skin.

And when I took his hand to feel his pulse

I felt myself drawn in. It was as faint

as the steps of a child

padding across the floor in slippers,

and yet he was smiling.

I could almost hear a river

running beneath his breath.

The water clear and cold and deep.

He was ready and willing to wade on in.

_
This Is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams (1934)

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
_

Dust of Snow by Robert Frost

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

_

Death by William Butler Yeats

Nor dread nor hope attend

A dying animal;

A man awaits his end

Dreading and hoping all;

Many times he died,

Many times rose again.

A great man in his pride

Confronting murderous men

Casts derision upon

Supersession of breath;

He knows death to the bone

Man has created death.

_

Yesterday is History by Emily Dickinson

Yesterday is History,

'Tis so far away

Yesterday is Poetry

'Tis Philosophy

Yesterday is mystery

Where it is Today

While we shrewdly speculate

Flutter both away

_

Eros a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The sense of the world is short,

Long and various the report,

To love and be beloved;

Men and gods have not outlearned it,

And how oft soe'er they've turned it,

'Tis not to be improved.

_

A Poison Tree a poem by William Blake

I was angry with my friend;

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I waterd it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears:

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright.

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole.

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning glad I see,

My foe outstretchd beneath the tree.

_

FOG by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.
_

Love and Friendship by Emily Bronte

Love is like the wild rose-briar,

Friendship like the holly-tree—

The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms

But which will bloom most constantly?

The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring,

Its summer blossoms scent the air;

Yet wait till winter comes again

And who will call the wild-briar fair?

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now

And deck thee with the holly's sheen,

That when December blights thy brow

He may still leave thy garland green.
_

My River by Emily Dickinson

My river runs to thee.

Blue sea, wilt thou welcome me?

My river awaits reply.

Oh! sea, look graciously.

I’ll fetch thee brooks

from spotted nooks.

Say, sea, Take me!
_

THE WORLDS NEED by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

O many gods, so many creeds,

So many paths that wind and wind,

While just the art of being kind

Is all the sad world needs.
_

O Lady Moon by Christina Rossetti

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the east:

Shine, be increased;

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the west:

Wane, be at rest.
_

When Roses cease to bloom, Sir by Emily Dickinson

When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,

And Violets are done --

When Bumblebees in solemn flight

Have passed beyond the Sun --

The hand that paused to gather

Upon this Summer's day

Will idle lie -- in Auburn --

Then take my flowers -- pray!
_

The Fish by William Butler Yeats

Although you hide in the ebb and flow

Of the pale tide when the moon has set,

The people of coming days will know

About the casting out of my net,

And how you have leaped times out of mind

Over the little silver cords,

And think that you were hard and unkind,

And blame you with many bitter words.

_

Water, is taught by thirst. by Emily Dickinson

Water, is taught by thirst.

Land -- by the Oceans passed.

Transport -- by throe

Peace -- by its battles told

Love, by Memorial Mold

Birds, by the Snow.
_

A sepal, petal, and a thorn by Emily Dickinson

A sepal, petal, and a thorn

Upon a common summer's morn

A flask of Dew - A Bee or two

A Breeze - a caper in the trees

And I'm a Rose!
_

Quiet Girl by Langston Hughes

I would liken you

To a night without stars

Were it not for your eyes.

I would liken you

To a sleep without dreams

Were it not for your songs.
_

My Beard by Shel Silverstein

My beard grows down to my toes,

I never wears no clothes,

I wraps my hair

Around my bare,

And down the road I goes.

_

Who Has Seen the Wind?by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you.

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I.

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking - Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

Hans Christian Anderson
To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,

To gain all while you give,

To roam the roads of lands remote,

To travel is to live.

Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep:

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft starshine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry:

I am not there; I did not die.

-

The Crystal Gazer - Sara Teasdale

I shall gather myself into my self again,

I shall take my scattered selves and make them one.

I shall fuse them into a polished crystal ball

Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.

I Shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent.

Watching the future come and the present go -

And the little shifting pictures of people rushing

In tiny self-importance to and fro.

Heredity byThomas Hardy

I am the family face;

Flesh perishes, I live on,

Projecting trait and trace

Through time to times anon,

And leaping from place to place

Over oblivion.

The years-heired feature that can

In curve and voice and eye

Despise the human span

Of durance -- that is I;

The eternal thing in man,

That heeds no call to die

This Too Shall Pass - Helen Steiner Rice

If I can endure for this minute

Whatever is happening to me,

No matter how heavy my heart is

Or how dark the moment may be
If I can remain calm and quiet

With all the world crashing about me,

Secure in the knowledge God loves me

When everyone else seems to doubt me
If I can but keep on believing

What I know in my heart to be true,

That darkness will fade with the morning

And that this will pass away, too
Then nothing in life can defeat me

For as long as this knowledge remains

I can suffer whatever is happening

For I know God will break all of the chains
That are binding me tight in the darkness

And trying to fill me with fear

Or there is no night without dawning

And I know that my morning is near.

ROSES by George Eliot 1819-1880

You love the roses - so do I. I wish

They sky would rain down roses, as they rain

From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?

Then all the valley would be pink and white

And soft to tread on. They would fall as light

As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be

Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

Justice by Langston Hughes

That Justice is a blind goddess

Is a thing to which we black are wise:

Her bandage hides two festering sores

That once perhaps were eyes.
Poetry